Every project and every project stakeholder deserves some risk management, no matter how small or simple the project. That is a sentiment I often share with my project management students, inspired by an experience I had managing a small project … Continue reading →

Every project and every project stakeholder deserves some risk management, no matter how small or simple the project.

That is a sentiment I often share with my project management students, inspired by an experience I had managing a small project years ago.

I was assigned to a project that had to be delivered in a short period of time. Fortunately, the product was very familiar to me and the team, and we had done similar types of projects in the past. Further, team members already knew each other and the SMEs in the organization who would be providing support.

Even though I had worked with the team members previously, I had concerns about one of them, Jon, because we hadn’t used him in this particular role. I did not think that what he was providing on the project played to his strengths. But since no one else seemed concerned and we were in a rush, I decided to move ahead without any discussion around project risks. I didn’t want to be a nay-sayer. We had done this before and these team members were familiar with the product, the organization, and each other. What could possibly go wrong? I figured we would just cross that bridge if, and when, we got to it.

Well, many weeks into the project, we got to that bridge. Jon produced his deliverable – and it was a mess. Way worse than I could have imagined. Total show stopper. What was even messier, however, was having to tell my sponsor about the problem. As much as anything, I was frustrated with having to present what appeared to be a “surprise” to my sponsor. I wasn’t looking to say, “I told you so,” but the burden of the mad scramble to respond felt heavier than it no doubt would have if the sponsor and others had been aware.

Many late-night phone calls and floor pacing ensued along with considerable stress just trying to figure out how to communicate what had happened. Actually, developing a response to the issue felt entirely secondary to the challenge of communicating that it had occurred. I couldn’t see clear to a solution because I was so concerned about my sponsor’s reaction.

For many, the reaction to something like this on projects is often emotional and poorly scaled. Further, the inclination is to spend time figuring out how a problem could have happened, what could have prevented it, what should have been done differently, etc. While the intention of those reactions isn’t always to place blame, they often leave people feeling like they did something wrong and it can create negative energy on the project. That was certainly the case with this project.

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Looking back, a conversation with my sponsor about my concern would have better served the interests of the project and the organization, as opposed to ignoring it in order to move faster to meet an aggressive deadline. In fact, I am certain that we would have accepted the risk and not done anything proactive about it. Talking about it early on, however, would have changed the tone of the conversation once it did happen.

Early discussions about potential threats serve to get concerns in the open so that if they do occur, the reaction from the project manager, sponsor, and others can be more constructive and get to problem-solving faster.

It’s the conversation that matters, and having it early about potential problems is a lot easier than having to initiate a conversation mid-project after an issue has already created problems. They help create a project culture of openness and trust. Most importantly, better project decisions get made, resources are used more wisely, and project tempo is sustained when the risks do occur.

I learned a lot from that experience. No matter how small, how familiar, or how “been here done this” I feel about a project, I make sure we take some time early on to talk about what could go wrong. That makes risks a safe topic, and one that’s likely to be revisited throughout the project – in a tone of partnership.

How about you? What has your risk management experience been on small projects?

This past July, I (Susan) was hospitalized for a heart condition. Looking back at this event, I found that my business analysis skills were useful in understanding the overall situation. I was visiting my parents in my hometown of Perham, … Continue reading →

This past July, I (Susan) was hospitalized for a heart condition. Looking back at this event, I found that my business analysis skills were useful in understanding the overall situation.

I was visiting my parents in my hometown of Perham, MN when I was admitted to the hospital with chest pains. After a few tests at that hospital, I was transported to Fargo’s cardiac center for additional testing. I arrived late in the evening, but I had sufficient time to become “armed and dangerous.” I had been told I probably had a condition known as cardiomyopathy, but I had no idea what that was, despite having studied Latin for three years. Yes, I knew that cardio meant “heart,” but myopathy—what in the world was that?!

As I waited for more tests, I logged on to my computer and looked up cardiomyopathy. I wanted to know what it was, why I had it, what the symptoms were, what my prognosis was, and what the options were for moving forward. By the time the cardiologists came back, I was armed with all my questions as well as multiple options for moving forward. Of course, my husband was shaking his head as I am going on the computer from my hospital bed to find the answers and preparing my questions instead of just waiting for the doctor. What can I say – once a BA, always a BA. So here is my challenge to you – are you a consummate BA? Do you have heart?

1. Do You Fully Understand the Problem and are You Inquisitive Enough to Want to Know?

Given my situation, I wanted to know what I had, why I had it, what the symptoms where, how I had I contributed to its occurrence (because there is no history in my family of heart issues), what my prognosis was, the options for moving forward, and what the impact would be on my life going forward. So, I asked the nurses and cardiologists a ton of questions, such as how do you know it is cardiomyopathy? Could it be something else? What symptoms indicated that diagnosis? What test are you running? Why do I need those tests? And all the blood–why are you still drawing blood? Why are there multiple people drawing my blood for different tests and will there be any blood left for me?! Surely there could be an improved process somewhere where they could share the blood and not drain me dry ?! I am sure I drove everyone crazy, but they were all wonderful about answering all my questions and I got the answers I needed so I could understand the situation.

As a BA, do you fully understand the problem the stakeholder is trying to solve? Do you want to know everything you can about a situation from both strategically and at detailed level? Do you know what the impact of the situation is on the organization and its employees? Do you ask enough questions to gain a thorough understanding of the situation, enough to be able to determine if the proposed solution will actually solve the problem? Do you ask the tough questions, the challenging questions, the probing questions, and do you have the courage to push hard when you don’t get the answers you need?

2. Do You Understand the Root Causes of the Problem?

During my stint in the hospital, I not only researched my symptoms to see if it was an accurate diagnosis, but to get a better understanding of how I got this disease, which contributing factors led to my getting cardiomyopathy. I figured if I could identify the contributing factors, I could address those factors and figure out how to overcome them. Working with my cardiologists, we decided there were a combination of issues that caused the heart condition: stress, being overweight, not exercising enough, and not eating a healthy diet. Once I found out what some of the root causes of my condition were, I could plan to overcome those contributing factors.

As a BA, do you know what caused the problem the organization wants to address? And importantly, do you understand why had it occurred? Do you identify the root cause of the issues? Unless you know what caused the problem, you have little chance of solving it.

3. Do You Provide Options to Your Stakeholders?

I am always looking for options. Just like Captain Kirk (for all you Star Trek fans), “I don’t believe in the no win scenario”. I believe there are variety ways to solve problems. However, I also know it is sometimes difficult to do. There was a time when we went to a doctor, gave them our symptoms and waited for the prognosis and prescription. Now we partner with our healthcare providers. In my case, I worked with the cardiologists on the best, most practical options for moving forward. I did my research, asked my questions, and let them know my preferences. We explored such alternatives as losing weight, healthy eating, and more exercise.

Just like working with physicians on our health care, we need to be partners with our business stakeholders to help solve their problems. In the past, we would often wait to be assigned to a project which already had a solution. We would then take that solution and run with it, getting requirements for a solution that might or might not help the organization. It is our job as BAs to thoroughly understand the problem, and create viable solution options, and recommend the option that we think will best serve the organization.

4. Do You Confirm Your Understanding of the Requirements to Ensure You’ve Been Successful?

The cardiologists said I needed to change my lifestyle by eating healthier foods, losing weight, and exercising more. I knew what losing weight looked like and could “test” that requirement by stepping on the scale, but what did they really mean when they said, “eat a healthy diet” and “exercise”. How would I know if I fulfilled those two requirements? How much exercise was needed? Beyond reducing my caloric intake, what did “healthy eating” mean? What did success look like? “Healthy eating” and “exercise” are examples of “ambiguous” requirements – words that mean different things to different people. I asked the cardiologists, what does eating healthy look like to you? They provided specific examples, like eliminating processed foods, eating lean meats, and eating 5 cups of vegetables per day. They also provided specifics for exercising– at least 30 minutes of a cardio exercise three times a week. With these types of specific goals, I was able to determine when I achieved them.

What does this mean for us? We need to have clear acceptance criteria for the requirements of our solution. Once we understand the problem to be addressed, develop options, and recommend a solution, we need to have stakeholders articulate requirements of the solution. We need to ensure that these requirements 1) are aligned with the problem, 2) will contribute to solving the problem, and 3) have acceptance criteria associated with them, so we know when we have achieved our goal. If not, there is a good chance the problem will not be solved.

Best wishes for a healthy and heart filled life!

Join the conversation below. How have your BA skills played a role in your everyday life?

When you think of it, why wouldn’t everyone want to be a project manager? The Great Pyramids. Apollo missions. The Stanley Cup playoffs. They’re all projects of one sort or another. To be sure, your projects probably aren’t going to … Continue reading →

When you think of it, why wouldn’t everyone want to be a project manager? The Great Pyramids. Apollo missions. The Stanley Cup playoffs. They’re all projects of one sort or another. To be sure, your projects probably aren’t going to be that exciting, but I seldom hear project managers complain about boredom.

In our Project Management Fundamentals classes, I invariably have students who share that they aren’t sure whether or not they have worked on projects. It’s always fun to see them realize that everything they do is projects – they just didn’t know it! Students working in marketing and administrative support positions are common examples of the backgrounds people come from who experience this revelation.

The key to getting into project management from another field is to start thinking about your work activities as project experience so you can start orienting yourself toward your work as a project manager and communicating about your work as project experience. You need to filter what you’ve done, what you’re currently doing, and your future work through a PM lens.

To develop a project perspective on your work, start with the basic premise that projects are how organizations adapt to change. That means that if you’ve been a part of change in your environment, you’ve probably been involved in a project, even if it wasn’t labeled and managed as a project.

Project Boundaries

Projects by definition have beginnings and ends, as opposed to operational or support work, which is ongoing. It’s essential to think about the boundaries of your work efforts to define “projects” within your ongoing work. For example, perhaps you provide support to a marketing department and your work day is filled with administrative activities. Consider a change that may have been made to how you do things. If a change was made to a report, what was the report process to start and what was the change that was implemented? The boundaries would be defining the beginning and end of this “project” effort. You could say it started with the approval of the new report format and ended with the distribution of the first new report.

Don’t worry about whether or not there was a budget or how big it may have been, and don’t worry about how long the effort took. Just take a step back and try to find instances of where a change was made to what was done or how something was done. Then identify the beginning and end of that effort.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups that are either impacted by what you’re doing or can impact what you’re doing. No matter what you do, you have stakeholders, even if you haven’t thought about them as such. Within the boundaries of your project work, think about the people who are impacted, as well as the people who can impact what you do. It might be customers or people who receive the results of your work. If we go back to the new report example, it could also be people who provide the data or inputs to the report, or someone who had to approve the new report or format.

Think broadly about people who are being impacted or who think they are being impacted positively or negatively and those people who can impact you positively or negatively. Typically, we have more stakeholders than we realize and the challenge is to figure out which ones we need to pay the most attention.

To begin with, just identify the stakeholders and how they are related to the project. Do they have things you need such as money or people or approval? If so, what is it? And what do they need from you?

Scope

As you start to think about your work as project work, think about the scope of work within the boundaries you have defined for your project. For example, if the boundaries of your project include the development and creation of a new report, you would still need to define the scope of what’s included – and not – on your project. Is determining a new distribution method within scope or not? What about revisions to the distribution list of recipients? Maybe that’s part of the project and maybe not. If someone else is doing that independently of your project, it’s out of scope.
To be sure, changing your mental model about your work does not make you an expert project manager. However, if you are looking to transition into project management, you need to communicate to others your experience in a way that demonstrates that you understand what distinguishes project work from non-project work.

More importantly, thinking about what makes something a project and considering the items above will allow you to orient yourself toward your work as projects going forward. Your perspective will evolve, your questions will get better, and your ability to see the big picture will develop.

A foundational class such as Watermark’s Project Management Essentials is a great resource to guide you in your professional development and help you understand the nuts and bolts of project management. Like the students in my classes, you will hear examples and experience you own confirmations and validations of your project work. As a foundational course, it covers the major areas of project management to give you a solid perspective of the work of project managers. As a live course, delivered by a live instructor, you get the benefit of hearing the discussions and questions without the constraint of having to be in a classroom. We also offer a self-paced Anytime Learning course, which allows you to learn when it’s convenient for you and gives you flexibility to work with your schedule.

If your goal is to transition into project management, the good news is you probably already have more experience than you think. So, get your thoughts together about what you’ve done and start thinking differently about what you do going forward. Good luck!

Deadlines, changing priorities, and relentless distractions make it challenging to bring our professional best to every task at work. Some days are frustrating, some infuriating. No one feels like they are hitting on all cylinders in terms of creativity and energy … Continue reading →

Deadlines, changing priorities, and relentless distractions make it challenging to bring our professional best to every task at work. Some days are frustrating, some infuriating. No one feels like they are hitting on all cylinders in terms of creativity and energy 100 percent of the time.

But what about those core values that characterize our personal best? We should filter every interaction in any situation based on our personal code of ethics that we expect of ourselves every day.

Recently, I found myself reflecting on what exactly those core values are for me and decided to put together something that spoke to my values and intentions to use as daily guide posts for my behavior. I wanted something that would be easy to remember and that I could use as a mantra of sorts to focus at the beginning of the day.

The individual ideas captured in this mnemonic aren’t new, original, or complicated. They are simple, familiar ideas packaged in a way that personally resonates. The expression is a helpful reminder of what to reasonably expect of myself no matter the circumstance, conflict, or obstacle encountered. Today and every day, I make a commitment to SHOW UP.

S Speak the truth

Leading with this reminds me of the importance of speaking the truth as a cornerstone of self-trust. This is a good reminder, too, that “I don’t know” is a good answer when it’s the truth. No one goes wrong with regular commitments to being honest.

H Honor the absent

I borrowed “Honor the Absent” from a school here in Minneapolis. What do I say about those who are not present? My personal commitment to speaking well or not at all of people who are not present keeps me from engaging in the negative, and often tempting, gossip.

For every decision and action I take, I need to be prepared to take responsibility for it. If I can’t raise my hand to own it or sign my name to it, I won’t do it or say it.

W Weigh all perspectives fairly

In the face of conflict or different opinions, I will remember to disagree with ideas, not people. I will take all perspectives into consideration and weigh them based on merit and context, not politics or personal bias.

U Understand others’ motives

We all know there are two sides to every story. I find myself forgetting that sometimes because it is easy to get consumed with the story immediately in front of me. Before passing judgment, I will truly make an effort to understand where others are coming from and why.

P Participate positively

With every interaction, every word, every exchange, I will seek to do so in a way that contributes positively. I may not have the answer or solution, but I will try to shed light on the situation, add a perspective not yet considered, provide new information, ask good questions, or just stay silent if the situation calls for it.

I have this posted where I can see it and challenge myself to SHOW UP each morning. How about you? Did you SHOW UP today?

It’s always fun to see ProjectsAtWork.com publish my articles. Thanks to the great comments from readers in response to a recently published work on project ownership in PAW: Recently, a project management colleague was expressing frustration with her inability to get a project … Continue reading →

It’s always fun to see ProjectsAtWork.com publish my articles. Thanks to the great comments from readers in response to a recently published work on project ownership in PAW:

Recently, a project management colleague was expressing frustration with her inability to get a project moving in a constructive direction. She knew the success of the project was her responsibility. Yet she felt hamstrung in her ability to get what she needed from people. Even simple requests for information from external stakeholders went unanswered and resulted in project inertia.

I hear this from project managers on a regular basis and it always brings me back to one of the truisms in project management: The project manager is responsible for project success. In fact, this is clearly articulated A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide-Fifth Edition), Section 2.2.3, titled Project Success:

“The project manager is responsible and accountable for setting realistic and achievable boundaries for the project and to accomplish the project within the approved baselines.”

This is reasonable. But it’s not enough to simply declare that the project manager owns the success of the project. There are numerous qualifiers to project success resting on the PM’s shoulders. I’d like to focus on roles and responsibilities. Specifically, a project manager’s ownership for project success or failure makes sense only when others take ownership for their part of the project, as well.

Part 1—Why Do We Have To Wait So Long?! The reality of a jury trial is different from what we see on TV or read in books, where the action moves quickly towards the acquittal or conviction of the defendant. … Continue reading →

The reality of a jury trial is different from what we see on TV or read in books, where the action moves quickly towards the acquittal or conviction of the defendant. On TV the opening arguments, the witness interrogation, and the closing arguments are all pertinent and exciting. Of course, on TV and in books trials are filled with action, with both sides winning points, stumbling, and articulating coherent and often poignant arguments. Oh, the fast-paced drama of it all.

So when I was summoned for jury duty, my expectation was that while there might be some down time waiting to be selected for a jury panel, once picked, things would move along quickly. Reality, not surprisingly, proved quite different. Perhaps some trials are filled with drama, interesting cross-examinations, and surprise endings. But my experience as a jury panelist was, for the most part, all about waiting.

What business analysis lessons, then, can we learn from waiting? Here is the first one—remember that our stakeholders are waiting, too. Years ago the sponsor of a large project I managed handed me a Dilbert cartoon, the gist of which was that the less we know about something, the less amount of time we expect its development to take. My sponsor was telling me that he recognized the trap he was falling into–that because he did not understand the complexities of software development, he couldn’t imagine how it could take so long to develop the new application.

During jury duty, after 36 of us had been selected as potential jurors, we were escorted outside the assigned courtroom to wait until we were called. Someone verbalized his frustration with the process. “What a waste of our time,” he complained. “No doubt the judge is having a martini lunch,” and so on. When we were finally seated in the courtroom, the judge explained the rules we were to follow and immediately dismissed us for a 25 minute break. The person who seemed frustrated before became infuriated. He poured out invective against all lawyers, court clerks, court officials, and public servants. It seemed to me, though, that there were several possibilities for the delay. None of us potential jurors knew what was happening behind the scenes, but that did not mean that there was no activity. It simply meant that we were unaware of what those activities were.

Most stakeholders don’t understand our processes and how long it takes to develop the end solution. After meeting with a BA or product owner, our stakeholders are often left alone to wait. We do our business analysis or project management work while they wait. We’re busy. The development team is busy. The product owner, if there is one, is busy. But the end users, having no idea of the complexities we face, just might be wondering what we’re doing and why they can’t have their end product sooner.

I worked on a project with a full-time product owner assigned, a retail buyer who was lent to us for the duration of the project. After spending a week collocated with us, she exclaimed, “I wish all the buyers could spend time in IT. I had no idea things were so complex! No amount of training in being a business analyst could have prepared me for how much work is involved in getting the requirements and developing the system. I’m beginning to understand why things take so long.”

Without training our SMEs or product owners to actually be business analysts, what can we do? One thing we might try is to offer our stakeholders the opportunity spend time in our work areas. Offer them the chance to observe us. Throughout my career as a BA, I have learned invaluable information when I have been able to observe stakeholders working in their areas. Observation has provided an opportunity to better know some of my stakeholders. It has been a way not only to build trust, but get information I could not obtain in any other way. It’s been a chance to learn about work-arounds, as well as issues and frustrations end-users encounter with their systems. It’s one of the best ways I know to build trust while learning about the “as-is.”

When stakeholders spend time with us, observing us while we do our business analysis work, they have an opportunity to get a glimpse of our work from another perspective. The wider their understanding and the more complexities they observe, the greater their patience and acceptance are apt to be. By providing them an opportunity to attend all the non-elicitation meetings, to be present when we develop/review data, process, and use case models, to listen as we interact with and answer questions from other team members like the project manager and the technical people, we are providing a viewpoint that few people outside the development team have, and it’s a glorious way to build understanding and trust. And even if our stakeholders don’t accept our offer, we are apt to get their appreciation for having offered.

So the lesson learned is the importance of trying to empathize with our stakeholders’ likely frustration with the waiting involved in their projects. Stay tuned for the next blog in which I will discuss the second lesson I learned from jury duty, the importance of communicating the whole project scope.

August makes me think of lots of things: hot summer days, lemonade stands, and one of the most popular topics in the media this time of year, the summer slide. I’m not talking about the summer slide like the one … Continue reading →

August makes me think of lots of things: hot summer days, lemonade stands, and one of the most popular topics in the media this time of year, the summer slide. I’m not talking about the summer slide like the one you’d see at a swimming pool. I’m talking about the “slide” of students who fall behind in their reading and math skills during the summer months.

Working professionals have our own “summer slide.” Unfortunately, ours isn’t season-specific. We are pressured continuously to stay fresh in our fields, even to “reinvent” ourselves to stay relevant in today’s insanely-paced work environments.

I’m not really sure what it means to “reinvent” myself, and the people who write about it have been writers their entire professional careers, so I’m not sure they know what it means, either.

But I do appreciate the idea of staying fresh and current. It can be overwhelming to stay “fresh” when most days I just try to keep up. I did, however, come up with three tangible nuggets of things that I can do to grow professionally. These are things that I know I can improve upon and that I know will offer plenty of opportunity for practice.

1. Dedicate yourself to growing as a conflict manager

For many of us, the first task is to make peace with the idea of conflict. It wasn’t until I got past the idea of conflict as something to avoid that I was able to start thinking about how I can manage it instead of merely reacting to it. There are life-long, deeply entrenched responses to conflict and a commitment to growing in this area is no small undertaking. Take one small conflict at a time and practice letting go of any fear and face it head on. Start small and celebrate successes. There is always more to learn and practice. Commit to doing better in your professional life and the skills will benefit you personally, as well.

2. Dedicate yourself to becoming a more critical thinker

In the craze of our daily lives, we often develop shortcuts and habits that enable us to get through our days without questioning the accuracy, relevance, or logic of our thought. For example, we may respond with irritation to an email instead of critically responding on a more rational level because it is from so-and-so who always gets their facts wrong. Recognizing that frustration or anger is an emotional response to what we think about something requires critical thinking. Take time to understand what it means to think critically and dedicate yourself to becoming more conscious about what drives your feelings and actions. Thought is at the root of both. Becoming more intentional about how we think means we can minimize our frustration regarding how we feel and become more constructive in our actions.

3. Dedicate yourself to fairness

Anytime there is more than one person involved there is power at play. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but we do need to consider how it impacts our interactions. We tend to be more conscious of power differences when we perceive that we are the less powerful. “I’m frustrated because my manager is making me spend time on this project,” for example. But there are instances when we have a power advantage and without being aware of it may take advantage of others, or at least create some ill will. For example, a new manager may come to me with questions and, although they have political rank, I have power based on what I know. It is in my long-term interest to be sensitive to that and not take advantage of that power by making them feel put out by having to ask or making them feel like it was more work than it was. Understanding all of the powers at play, ours as well as others’, puts us in a better position to mitigate any negative impact it might have in order to be more fair.

These are a few areas that can provide professional growth and development opportunities. Where do you stand in these areas and what might it mean for you to dedicate time and intent to getting better at managing conflict, thinking critically, and ensuring fairness in your interactions?

An acquaintance was talking a few days ago about a company function at which a functional group had been brought together for purposes of learning, bonding, and growing as professionals, presumably to benefit themselves and the organization. But when someone … Continue reading →

An acquaintance was talking a few days ago about a company function at which a functional group had been brought together for purposes of learning, bonding, and growing as professionals, presumably to benefit themselves and the organization.

But when someone asked the CEO a question during the Q and A section of her presentation to the group, she turned evasive and ultimately dismissed the concern raised.

My acquaintance described his frustration and that of his peers who were perturbed at not hearing a much-needed response to an issue that was on the minds of many in the audience.

Yet, what was most offensive was that the executive’s response, or lack of response, seemed completely contrary to what that organization’s management claimed to value. They talk about openness and transparency, but they don’t seem to have the stomach for it when it’s needed most. “We don’t practice what we preach,” he said with exasperation.

Do you?

It takes courage to really ask that question of ourselves and those in our organizations. Do we really do what we tell others they should do? Do we do what we know is the right thing to do?

Those are tough questions for anyone. They are certainly difficult for those of us who spend many of our days explaining to others how to implement the best practices in project management or any other discipline.

My students hold my feet to the fire when I’m talking about controlling changes on projects, or engaging stakeholders in risk identification, or conducting lessons learned exercises. I regularly hear the question, “Do you do that?”

I try to emphasize that all project management practices need to be scaled in order to make sense for the project and the organization. I am careful to explain that nobody does every best practice on every project.

But even with those qualifiers, I confess that I don’t follow my best advice 100 percent of the time. Ironically, especially when the going gets tough or the constraints are particularly onerous, I know I have skipped over the very steps I know should be done to prevent problems.

Maybe instead of “Practice what you preach,” we should be thinking about “Preaching what we practice.” How different would that sound? And would it be worth listening to?

There is certainly no shortage of people these days who are dispensing advice about how to do everything from managing projects to raising kids. There are so many people trying to find an audience for their message and so many more venues for delivering them. With so much competition for the attention of a finite audience, is it inevitable that in the quest for something fresh to say, pontificators have to dig deeper into the bag of best practices tricks with less attention to whether or not it’s something they actually do?

Whether it’s an organization, a team, or an individual, it’s worth remembering the response of my acquaintance to the disconnect between what one says to do and what one actually does. That frustration dwarfs any negative response to an honest failure to actually do best practices.

Practice what you preach — a lynchpin of parenting models, corporate mission statements, and political platforms since the beginning of time. It is also an important facet of developing our influence skills.

Those of us who are charged with evangelizing best practices need to be honest with ourselves and those listening to make sure we are also preaching what we practice.

All too frequently, we are presented with choices where we need to make a critical decision. Those decisions can have profound impacts for the businesses we are employed by, the type of work that we do, the people we work … Continue reading →

All too frequently, we are presented with choices where we need to make a critical decision. Those decisions can have profound impacts for the businesses we are employed by, the type of work that we do, the people we work with, and who we are as people. We are constantly finding ourselves in the position of having to make choices, which can be exhausting when dealing with right and wrong. Have you ever asked yourself if you consistently choose the difficult right over the easy wrong? Ethics, it does a body good. Ethics play a large part in the role of business analysis. Without demonstrating ethics it is certainly difficult to build trust with your stakeholders. But are there shades of grey when it comes to ethics? I am sure you had an immediate reaction and response to that question, and it is one that we should all give pause for thought.

I went shopping at a large, local retailer. As I was strolling through the aisles, I saw an ad for a $60 gift card when you buy a vacuum. Although I was not planning on buying a vacuum that day, I made the decision to do so, given that the vacuum I had my eyes on was a $300+ vacuum, and the chances of getting a $60 gift card in the future for that same vacuum brand were “slim” to none (did you guess the vacuum?). Now hold on, that is not the decision of the difficult right vs. the easy wrong, which is still yet to come. I get to the checkout, I strike up a conversation with the sales associate while they scan my merchandise, I swipe my credit card, we talk some more, eventually they finish, they hand me my receipt, then with my trendy vacuum and the rest of my merchandise in tow, I leave. I get home about 20 minutes later and I start looking for my $60 gift card. I cannot find it. I started to think I must have left it at the store, which of course immediately annoyed me because that meant a trip back to the store to get it (rework is not a favorite pastime for me). I double-checked my receipt before hopping back in the car, only to find out I had not been charged for the vacuum! What??? Well, here is the choice: do I return it or keep it? It seems obvious, right?

I have presented this scenario to classes, at presentations, and even over dinner with friends. Not surprisingly, people have shared with me the many similar stories they have experienced, from vacuums to airplane tickets to just getting change from the hot dog vendor. Also not surprisingly, the answers to how people handle the situations they have been put in, are quite varied indeed. Some people would say “Well it is their fault, so it is free for me!” Others would say, “You must return it, golden rule you know.” Still more have put on their business analysis thinking caps and said “What are the impacts of returning it vs. not returning it? Does anyone really get hurt?” The decisions we make are impacted by many things including: our personal definition of ethics, our value and belief systems, cultural influences and more. Ethics, it seems, change, whether it be personal, corporate or even situational. But should they? Are there really shades of grey in ethics?

In the case of the missing gift card, as I am driving back to the store, my business analyst mentality comes out in full swing. “I need to take the vacuum back, anything else would be theft.” “What if the sales associate actually gets fired because I do bring it back? After all, they might not know unless I bring it back.” “Will the sales associate get fired if I don’t?” A dozen other things rattle through my mind and I start to create a mental grid of pros and cons. The bottom line is, I need to bring it back for a number of reasons. 1. Honesty and transparency are greatly important to me – even when people are not sure they want to hear it. If I am not, how will people trust me in turn? 2. Theft is what it is whether it is a dollar or a million. 3. The impact to shareholders and the company can be profound. If everyone believed that taking a dollar is okay, that company won’t likely be around next year. Imagine if it were $60? 4. It is actually not my job to protect the sales associate even though my instinct is to do so. I have to trust that the system the retailer put in place is fair for the shopper and employee alike. I have to trust that people will see it was a mistake that can be easily corrected.

The end result? I took the vacuum back, purchased it, got my gift card, profusely stood up for the sales associate (because I have know this person for awhile and I think they are really great). I found out much later the employee was not fired because I had indeed, brought the vacuum back. The easy wrong had too many strings attached to it and since I am a firm believer in karma… the difficult right is the only choice.

The easy wrong is just that – easy. It is like the little white lie. It is easy to push aside because the perception is that no one gets harmed in the process and therefore it is okay. The trickle-down effect of this can be staggering. I am betting there are some Uber BAs out there that can calculate the costs and impacts associated with this kind of behavior. In the end, I know that taking the easy wrong is a short-term, almost feel good result vs. the long-term decision brings peace of mind.

These “difficult” decisions are all around us and are not limited to financial or material gain. You make these decisions about family, friends, your career, and more. The question you should ask yourself is: “Am I who I thought I was, or am I something less?” This will guide you to the decision you make – knowing who you are. I am not striving to be perfect – just fair. Does that mean that all of the decisions you must make as a business analyst will be easy? Will everyone agree to those decisions? No, but if you do so in good faith you can sleep well at night knowing you did the right thing no matter how difficult it might have been.

“If you always do what you have always done, you will get what you always got.” Einstein, Twain, Ford have all been credited with this very powerful quote about change, and yet it really does not matter which of them … Continue reading →

“If you always do what you have always done, you will get what you always got.” Einstein, Twain, Ford have all been credited with this very powerful quote about change, and yet it really does not matter which of them actually said it, what matters is, that its intent is true. This quote is written on a whiteboard in the office where I go to “weigh-in” for my diet program. Yes, I call it a “diet program” and not a “lifestyle change” and we can debate about the psychology of that approach (or not), but the point is, I recognize that I have to do something different to succeed or I will always get/do the same things. As I write this article I am down 51 lbs and clearly, that change is good for me, and I have succeeded because I did not do the same things I have always done. For many though, change is uncomfortable, inconvenient, or something they must suffer through like bad weather, a cold or the flu season. As unfortunate a truth as that is, real success is difficult to achieve without change. If you stay the same, you will get passed by as individuals, departments, or organizations by the latest and greatest or simply those willing to more readily embrace change. I like change, I just wish my change included more chocolate, potatoes and bread thank you very much.

Our profession of business analysis is founded on change. Process improvements, a top-down decision, new ideas, fixes, all driving us towards taking the needs of the business and transforming them into future success. I am often in discussions with colleagues where we talk about our role as business analysts being infinitely complex, mysterious and most people cannot figure out what we do (no matter how much we tell or show them). However, if we just look at it logically, practically, our role is transparently obvious. We help people change for the better – we are change agents. So why don’t we do more promotion that we are change agents? “Hi, my name is Bob and I am here to help you transition to your new and amazing future!” Well, the inference for most people (based on their experiences) is that the change the BA is promoting creates a dystopian world fueled by fear, propaganda, big brother, the removal of freedom, and eventual conformity. The cries of the people shout out “Why can’t we just continue to do what we have always done? We were comfortable. Why are you making our lives miserable?!”

We have all heard the sayings that “change is constant”, “change in inevitable”, “change or die”, but that does not mean that change is any easier to digest. On the flipside, there are of course, many individuals who embrace change, they embrace it at superhero speed like the Flash. They crave change at a pace that is impossible to predict, sustain or achieve. They cry out “Change happens, get over it! Change coming through! Change is going to happen!” We don’t fear what is familiar, common, and comfortable, but we do fear (and it is perfectly natural to do so) what is thrust upon us, the something unknown, or changes to our routine. Without change we cannot move forward, overreach and progress. Change is necessary. Let’s be clear, I am a big believer in process, standards, and structure but we need to find a way to make change easier to deal with. There needs to be a clear strategic road map for change at all levels of the organization.

As a change agent, the business analyst is a motivator and leader with a clear vision for change that helps the business understand how their future will be bigger, brighter, easier, and more profitable. They are uniquely situated as a liaison among stakeholders to be the ultimate change agents. There has been tremendous progress in the promotion of the business analyst role but much still needs to be done. Leaders of organizations have an opportunity to help solidify the role of the business analyst/change agent, and develop a culture that embraces change.

So what can you do to become the change agent your organization needs? What can you do to help solidify the role of the business analyst , your change agent in your organization?